Beneath the Blue Sky
by baby-kitsune9
Summary: this is something that has been on my mind for a while. A time travel story in a different setting. Still a fem naru/kakshi story with a little bit of a twist. read the top of the first chapter to understand and let me know what you think
1. Chapter 1

Okay kittens. Here is something that has been on my mind lately. It's a time travel story that should be interesting. I'm not sure if anyone has ever wrote something like this so I thought that I'd give it a try.

Naru's name in this story is Winter.

And Kakashi's name will be Shadow Wolf.

It isn't the typical story which is why I felt the need to change their names.

I'm going to try and work in some native American history for this one since Kakashi's character is supposed to be a young (like say 22 or 23 yr. old) Cherokee Chief. And Naru will be a modern day lunatic/ half breed gunslinger.

Well I think that's all for now. Tell me what you think.

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Winter shifted in her saddle, pulling her black Stetson hat down so that it covered her eyes as she rode next to the wagon that her two older sisters sat in. It had been four months since the three had gone to their paw-paw's funeral and come into the possession of several cursed or bless artifacts from several different native tribes.

Four months since the sterling silver and turquoise bear claw necklace around Winter's neck, the twin revolver guns, the Sioux Chief Red Cloud's feather headdress and three peace pipes from the Cherokee, Blackfoot, and Dakota tribes; had somehow dragged the three sisters back through time from 2008 to 1866 and landed them somewhere in the middle of native Kansas outside of a trading post and three separate Indian tribes, two of which had started attacking and killing white settlers.

And if that wasn't unsettling enough for two of the three women, Winter had taken it upon herself to act as the family 'man' or 'male relation' and had gotten herself a job as a-

And this was just loosely phrased, deranged gunslinger/ bounty hunter in an effort to earn money so that they could live.

All in all, she wasn't half bad at her job despite her gender. Winter had spent more time on the reservations where their paw-paw's people had lived and had immersed herself in the native traditions of hunting, and tracking among other things.

And since their father had been a law man before he had died when Winter was fifteen; he had taken Winter aside from time to time and taught her how to shoot to kill. And now at the ripe old age of nineteen Winter was as capable a sharp shooter as Colamity Jane.

"It's hot." Robin said suddenly out of the blue, drawing Winter's attention from whatever scary thoughts had been going on in her head to the slender nicely curved form of her second sister. Robin's head was tipped back a little bit so that her waist length wavy chestnut brown hair slipped back away from her classically beautiful features. Her aqua eyes staring-well more like glaring at the cloudless blue sky above them.

"We're in the middle of Kansas, in the summer of 1866. Of course it's hot."

Robin lowered her head a little bit then turned it so that she was glaring at Winter now. Her aqua eyes taking on a mean look that Winter knew all too well. Robin got that look on her face every time she was about to do something stupid.

Like the time when they had been kids and Winter had been playing with one of Robin's favorite dolls, so Robin had decided to tie Winter to a train track.

Not a toy one either.

A real, honest to god, train track and had left her there hoping that she would be run over.

Luckily for Winter, the particular track that Robin had tied her too had been out of commission since 1934 so when Winter had finally managed to work her hands free she had gone looking for her older sister and had found her sound asleep on the couch as if she hadn't done anything wrong.

Winter had gotten a bowel of hot water and a strait razor and had cut Robin's nearly knee length hair off above her ears and then stuck her hand in the warm water and had walked away feeling happy with her revenge.

They had both gotten grounded, but it had totally been justified to Winter.

"Yes, but we're the only ones wearing these god awful, stifling, heavy cotton dresses." Robin growled at her. Winter wasn't offended though. She understood all too well how pissed a modern girl could get in such weather while wearing such clothes. But if Robin thought that she was having a blast in her black cotton _long_ sleeved shirt and her dark leather lace up pants, and the boots with the spurs and the overly large jacket that made her look like a midget, and the big wide brimmed hat that was plastered to her head by more sweat than she would like to admit, well then she'd trade with Robin in a damn heart beat.

She felt like she was in a fucking oven. And the bindings that she wore under her shirt to hide her breasts made it hard to breathe.

"And I'm the one in a long sleeved shirt, pants that are chafing the inside of my thighs-" Amy, their eldest sister snorted and dropped her head so that her hair would hide her face and the amused smile on it. "And this god awful hat and jacket, well honey if you want to trade..."

Robin's glare vanished and she sighed. "Sorry Winter. It's horrible out here and I was taking it out on you."

Winter shrugged her shoulders. "No big. I'm used to it."

"Do you know what your going to be doing in town, Snow Fox?" Amy asked using Winter's Indian name. Winter's lips quirked up in a small grin.

"Resisting the urge to get into trouble like last time." Winter said almost hopefully. Last time being when she had accidentally foiled a bank robbery by breaking into song and dance and then shooting three of the seven robbers dead, and wounding another three before chucking her empty gun at the head bad guy and knocking him out.

It was the sort of thing that a person only saw in the movies, and yet Winter had pulled it off flawlessly without getting a single wound. Amy was glaring at her now, her icy blue eyes staring at her youngest sister from under jet black curls. "That would be nice for a change." Even if Winter's take on the song and dance to Michael Jackson's Billy Jean had been damn good.

"So...what are we going into town for again?" Robin asked after an uncomfortable second or so.

"Supplies." Amy said sternly.

"Work." Winter said equally sternly and Robin had to reach out and take the whip hidden next to Amy's right hip other wise Winter would have wound up with another scar.

Amy glared at Winter again, but Winter however just grinned at her, both of them knowing that while they were in such strange lands and in an era that wasn't their own that they had no choice but to rely on Winter's knowledge of history and different cultures as well as her skill with a gun or they may never make it home alive.

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Chief Shadow Wolf stared at the busy streets before him and his braves and mentally cringed at the glares and dirty looks that they received from the white eyes as they rode through the large wooden gate.

"Shadow Wolf can we not do this at another place? Perhaps in an area further up the river where the people are less hostile." Red Feather asked as he gave the people around them a narrowed eyed glare.

"_Tla_, my friend. We cannot afford to be gone from the tribe for long." Shadow Wolf said as he turned his head to look at his childhood friend. Red Feather thinned his lips for a second, but understood his Chiefs reluctance to go further up the river to trade furs and other treasures.

The evil ones have been killing, raping and pillaging everything from other native tribes to the white eyed settler's lands.

As of late their braves have been noticing some white eyes living close to some of their sacred lands, and while that in itself wasn't particularly alarming. The sudden attacks on the white settlers among other things, were. Especially since they were being blamed for something that they had not done simply because of the color of their skin.

"_Ah-say-he_, I understand my friend." And he did. Shadow Wolf may never really admit it, but he was worried about the evil ones and their actions. He was also worried about what would happen if their tribe was attacked while they were gone.

And while it wasn't something that was very likely to happen considering the staggering numbers of braves and warriors protecting the village and it's people, it was still something that Shadow Wolf worried about.


	2. Chapter 2

The second the wagon was parked, winter was off of her horse and at Amy's side, her arms up. "Come on Amy, I'll get you down off of this monster." She said with a playful note to her voice. Amy snorted and shook her head no. Feeling more than a little leery of whether or not Winter could hold her up. After all she weighed at least thirty pounds more than Winter.

"No thanks. I think I'll just..."

The wagon rocked a little bit and Robin's yelp broke the awkward silence as Amy and Winter both leaned to the front a little bit and frowned when they caught sight of Robin laying on the ground with her soft green muslin skirt bunched up around her knees."Robin?"

"What the hell are you doing?" Winter demanded as she dropped her arms and quickly scaled the wagon and climbed across the seat to jump down on the other side just a foot or so from where Robin sat with a pained look on her face.

"Ow. I think I broked my tail bone." Robin muttered as she blinked back tears and rubbed at her lower back, because Winter might smack her if she rubbed her ass in public. Especially since it would draw unwanted attention to her body. But mostly because a lady wouldn't rub her ass in public.

Just like a gentleman wouldn't scratch his crotch in front of a potential mate.

Winter sighed and shook her head slowly as she reached out and grasped Robin's hand and pulled her up and subtly dusted her bottom off without making herself look like a perv. "I swear to god Robin, one day you're going to break your damn neck."

"Language Winter." Robin pointed out softly.

"Quiet woman. I'm incognito remember." Winter said as she straitened her spine and popped her back and neck as Amy climbed down from the wagon without any help and joined them on the ground.

"Are you alright Robin?" Amy asked as she walked over to them as Winter let go of Robin's hand and stuffed her hands in her jacket pockets and slouched a little before reaching up to nervously fiddle with her hat and make sure that it was still covering her long, snowy white blond hair.

"Yeah I'm fine." Robin said as she took an experimental step forward and winched a little bit. Yeah...her butt was going to be bruised from that fall.

"Awesome. Now that that Robin's health has become public knowledge, lets get the shopping out of the way before I go stir crazy." Robin and Amy both stared at Winter, wondering how she could possibly be related to them. She was just so-so ill mannered.

"What's your rush Snow Fox?"

"Temporary sanity. I don't want to be in town any longer than necessary. There are too many drunks with itchy trigger fingers about for my liking." Winter pointed out gently. She wasn't trying to be a bitch, she just didn't want her sisters caught up in a wrong place, wrong time sort of thing where they could end up being kidnapped by some drunk for god knows whatever reason or shot full of holes.

It was one thing for her to get hurt-she liked to live dangerously. But it was another thing entirely for her sisters to be hurt for any reason. It was simply something that she _wouldn't_ and _couldn't_ allow to happen. She expected both of her sisters to live long lives, and marry and breed like little rabbits.

She had a lot of maddening and interesting habits to teach their children some day.

"Alright Winter. We'll do things your way. You got your guns on under that jacket?"

"Yup. Guns are on, and loaded. I'm also carrying two throwing knives and about seventy five spare bullets."

Amy stared at her for a second then raised a brow at her. Winter blushed a little bit and yanked the brim of her hat down over her eyes and muttered something along the lines of, "Better safe than sorry, ya know." Then stuffed her hands back in her jacket pockets and started walking, the spurs on her boots making little tinkling sounds as she walked over to the small log cabin where they went to trade goods.

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Shadow Wolf staggered back through the double doors and fell as his people's wares were thrown back in his face. Anger churned in his gut, threatening to over whelm his reason. How dare the white eyes throw such priceless gifts back in his face!

The village elders and children had worked hard on the hand made jewelry and hand made mother of pearl combs! These things were very high quality goods and the man behind the counter had just spat on them and threw them at him. Such insults were not to be born!

And under normal circumstances, they wouldn't be. But as it was right now all he could do was pick himself and his things up and leave. A pity since he saw this errand as one of great importance.

One of his beloved village elders, the former Chief Swaying Leaf, was ill and in need of medicine. His people's medicine man had tried _repeatedly_ to help the elder, but so far nothing seemed to do the trick and if his health suffered any more, he would die. Shadow Wolf was certain of it, and as much as he hated it. It looked like he would once again be helpless to stop the senseless loss of life.

"Shadow Wolf!" Red Feather left his horse's side to check on him and make sure that the white man hadn't hurt him, his dark eyes shooting knives, his jaw clenched tightly as he helped his Chief to his feet and was about to ask him if he wanted to try moving further down river again when a small voice called out to them in their language.

"To-hi-ju?" _'Are you fine?_'

They both looked at the slender waif like creature covered in inky black from head to toe as a small slender fingered hand came out of hiding and the person bent over at the waist a little bit and picked up one of the mother of pearl hair combs and studied it.

"Tla." '_No_' Red Feather answered hesitantly, unsure of what else to do. He couldn't really see the waif like creature's face, or even any of it's features. All he knew was that it spoke flawless Cherokee. Could this creature be a brother of theirs perhaps?

"Ah, tsi-go-ti." '_I see._' The creature said as it picked up several other pieces and set them carefully aside on the leather that Shadow Wolf had carried them in to protect them from damage.

"Nah-duh-gah nay-he u-du-la-di-a li-s-de-lv-di?"_ 'Do you need help?_' The creature asked as it picked up the last piece of jewelry and set it on the leather skin as both Shadow Wolf and Red Feather stared at it in shock as they both slowly rose to their feet as two young women came walking up and stopped behind the creature.

One with dark curly hair and the other with chestnut brown. Both white from the looks of their ivory colored skin. The woman with the dark hair looked at the creature and smiled indulgently and said in flawless Cherokee, "_When your done-_"

The creature nodded it's head. "A-se-hi." _'Yes.'_ The two women walked up the steps and gave Shadow Wolf and Red Feather kind smiles and slipped past them into the store.

Shadow Wolf and Red Feather both frowned and looked back at the creature before Shadow Wolf asked curiously, "Hi-tsa-la-gi-s?" '_Are you Cherokee?' _

The creature tipped it's head back a little bit as it picked up the leather and gently folded the edges around the priceless hand made objects and walked up the steps to stand directly in front of them. The could see pale pink lips curved up into a small smile and nothing more as the creature murmured in English as it slipped by them and into the store with the small bundle, "Only half honorable Chief, only half."


	3. Chapter 3

Amy and Robin watched the brief exchange between the Indian's and their little sister through the narrow window inside of the small cabin like store. "Isn't that Chief Shadow Wolf?" Robin asked in an awed tone.

Amy nodded her head, a thoughtful expression on her face. She remembered seeing pictures of the man when he was in his thirties, and more pictures of him in his fifties in her school history book when she was in Jr. High. He had been an almost sinfully handsome man. And still was from the looks of him now.

His tribal history was a little bland compared to other native American tribes, but he had been such a great leader for his people. He had single handedly taken down a crime syndicate of rogue Indian's and outlaw white men who had gone on a murder spree, he had saved his younger cousin; a princess among their people from being killed by a group of Apache's that had attacked his village.

The same princess that later on married to stop a war from breaking out between the Cherokee and another tribe.

He had negotiated with the white man and struck up a deal so that his people could continue to live on their land when the white man wanted them gone.

He had married a woman named Snow Fox; which was where Winter's Indian name came from. And though there hadn't been any pictures of the woman, or of Shadow Wolf standing with her, they had had three kids. Two of them girls and one boy, all of who it was said that Shadow Wolf had _adored_.

The pictures had been black and white, so naturally Shadow Wolf's appearance was a mite different in real life than it was in the images of him. For one, he was much taller. Amy calculated that he stood at a whopping six foot seven, give or take two or three inches. His skin was a light healthy tan, much like Winter's skin was though his tan was a little darker in color. His hair-

It wasn't the traditional inky black or dark brown. Was a peculiar silver color, and was long and hung down his back almost to his waist with eagle feathers attached to some of the strands and a beaded head band held his hair back from his face a little bit. He had a nice body for an native American Indian. Lean, hard and muscular.

And his eyes! Such beautiful eyes should have been outlawed!

Shadow Wolf had the eyes of his name sake, the wolf. His eyes were sharp, intelligent, and mis matched. One a deep blue that was such a dark sapphire blue that it was almost black and the other a vivid garnet red.

"I'm suprised to be standing this close to such a legend."

"Yeah. Me too." Amy said softly as she turned and started walking along the shelves, her icy blue eyes scanning the jars of preserves and jellies and jams and vegetables and fruits, the sacks of flour and sugar. Across the room there were five or six shelves against the wall full of fabrics in vivid and beautiful colored hues. Soft velvets, and muslin's, cottons and silks.

"See something that you like?" Robin asked from somewhere behind her.

Amy made a humming sound. "I was just thinking that it's been a while since Winter had a dress to wear. Maybe we could get some fabric and make her a few. You know, when she finally meets herself a nice man."

Robin snorted in amusement and stopped when Winter came walking through the door and over to them with a little bundle in her arms. Robin groaned. "Please tell me that you didn't steal some poor woman's baby."

Winter gave her an cold look. "Alright. I didn't steal someones baby. I need you to hold onto these for a second Amy." Winter said as she handed her the small bundle and then reached into the small pouch on her gun belt and pulled out a thick wad of money and counted out a fifty dollar note then put the rest away.

"Winter, what mischief are you getting into?"

"No mischief sis. Just trying to help the Chief out."

"Why?"

"Because the guy over there won't buy these-" Well that wasn't exactly the truth, the man behind the counter would buy what Shadow Wolf had brought in to sell. He just wouldn't give the Chief a decent price for his people's work. Which was why Winter was buying the pieces. She liked the workmanship and knew that it had taken hours and hours just to complete each piece. The fifty dollar note in her hand was more than a fair price for the pieces in the current day and age that they were in.

Giving them the fifty dollars for their work was considerably better than seeing them get five or ten which wouldn't be able to buy much candy or medicines for their people.

Amy nodded her head as Winter turned and walked back out of the store and grasped the Chief's hand in hers and slipped the fifty dollars into it. Both Shadow wolf and Red Feather gaped at her as she grinned at them and pulled her hat down a little further over her eyes and then walked away again.

"Do you think that's her way of making friends?" Robin asked in a slightly shaky tone.

Amy ducked her head and buried her face in one hand and groaned. "Yes." Amy said in a rough tone before lifting her head. _God help us._

Winter was going to one day be the death of them.


	4. Chapter 4

Shadow Wolf and his braves stuck around the trading post only long enough to get what they had come for and though Red Feather could tell that his Chief's eyes were repeatedly drawn down the street where the funny little creature had gone off too after handing him the fifty dollars for their people's wares, Shadow Wolf's mind was on something other than their peoples sick elder for the moment.

He wanted to go find the creature. He wanted to speak with it a little more. Maybe even thank it properly for helping them.

Shadow Wolf caught Red Feather giving him an amused look and he scowled at his friend and turned his head back to the front and pushed all thoughts of the creature from his mind as they rode out of the gates and back the way that they had come.

Red Feather was quiet for a few minutes then said. "Do you think that creature was a _a-do-nv-do_? A spirit person sent to help us?"

Shadow Wolf thought for a second. Spirit people were the white man's equivalent of angels. They were good omens. Yet he hadn't got the feeling that he had been standing close to a spirit person. No he had gotten the feeling that he was looking at a normal, tangible, human being. A human being that he hadn't been able to tell was male or female, or young or old.

It was puzzling to him. Normally it was much easier to tell such things but the creature had given his the distinct impression that it had been trying to hide itself in plain sight. "_Tla_. No. Not a spirit person." _Something else. Something that I'd like to learn more about._ Shadow Wolf thought as they went silent again.

The group rode for the better part of an hour before finally reaching the small river that ran along the out skirts of the village. Shadow Wolf stopped his horse for a second and looked over the village with a careful eye. Everything looked well. The women and children were out and about playing and doing chores. He took a deep breath as his lips curved up in a small smile as he nudged his mount in the sides with his heels.

The horse lurched forward and splashed through the waist deep cool water until it reached the bank of the other side where Shadow Wolf slipped down off of his saddle and led the large white and grey wild mustang through the village to the corral where he took the time to unsaddle the horse and rub it down before putting it back into the corral and picking up his saddle and walking towards the elder, Swaying Leaf's lodge.

He slipped under the cloth covering the door and stepped into the lodge and paused for a moment to allow his eyes to adjust to the semi darkness. His eyes scanned the room, noting the weapons and shields. The pipes and furs the little fire pit in the middle of the room with a pot of rabbit and herb stew on it.

"_Jaw-dah-yuh-la-duh-wah-yaw?_ Shadow Wolf is that you?"Swaying Leaf called weakly.

"_Ah-say-he_. Yes, it is I." Shadow Wolf said as he moved away from the door way to go over to the elder who was laying on his bed of furs a foot or so from the fire pit and gracefully folded his legs as he sat down next to the elder.

"_Nah-s-gi-nay-he-a-s-gwa-di-s-di?_ Were you successful?" Swaying Leaf asked as he opened his dark eyes a little bit and looked at Shadow Wolf. Shadow Wolf smiled at him and pulled his saddle into his lap and dug out the medicine that could save Swaying Leaf's life and quickly pulled the cork out of the bottle and sniffed at it and cringed. _U-s-ga a-s_. Not so good smell.

He suddenly wasn't so sure that this medicine would work. But he was desperate and was willing to break with tradition if it meant saving Swaying Leaf's life. The tonic in his hand was supposed to help the sick person breathe better, and from the way Swaying Leaf's breath was rattling in his chest, Shadow Wolf wasn't so sure that this strongly bad smelling medicine would do much of anything for the elder.

"Here drink this and get well, _tso-s-da-nv-tli_. My brother." Shadow Wolf said gently as he slipped an arm under the elders thin shoulders and lifted him up a little bit and put the tonic to his lips.

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Winter walked out of the house without her jacket, or her hat, in a fresh shirt, clean pair of pants and with her gun belt slung around her shapely hips.

Her mid back length snowy white blond hair falling loosely around her shoulders as she stretched her hands over her head then dropped them to her sides as she walked down the steps and out into the front yard of their little two acre parcel of land.

It wasn't much, but it was home. And the nice cozy little two story cabin was just like the place that they had lived in as kids. It was a little bit smaller than their old home, but it was warm and comfortable and easy to clean up, so the size really didn't matter much to her or her sisters.

Robin sat on a small swing that Winter and Amy had rigged up in an tall willow tree about thirty or forty feet from the front of the house, across from the little barn where they kept their five horses.

Lucifer (Winter's wonderful tempered horse that had been named after the devil as a joke) Care Bear-who was neither nice or caring. Twitch, who did exactly what his name suggests and twitched like a meth addict. Bella, a nice little blond maned filly with spotted white and light brown fur. And Chewy, who liked to chew on things almost like a goat.

Robin looked up and blinked at Winter, apparently finding it strange that she wasn't wearing her jacket, her hat, or her spurs. She had apparently changed her shirt too, changing out of the long sleeved white cotton that she had worn before when they had been in town, and slipped into a skin tight deer skin leather lace up vest and a pair of denim pants that she had been wearing the day that they had appeared in 1866.

"Where are you off too?"

"Exploring." Winter said with a small grin as she walked by her. Robin turned her head to track her movements, apparently expecting Winter to go and get her horse. Winter didn't do what she expected. She walked past the barn and into the woods that bordered their home and disappeared like a bloody ghost. Normally Robin would worry about having Winter disappear into thin air like that, but after four months of seeing Winter make a living as a gunslinger she figured that her little sister must have a good idea of what she was doing, even if no one else knew what she was doing.

Besides she was pretty sure that Winter wouldn't go far. Especially with those rogue Indians and outlaws out and about.


	5. Chapter 5

Well here is the fifth chapter of Beneath the blue sky. Sorry that it took me so long but I've been re writing a few stories and sort of got caught up re writing Melt and Fantasy's in the night among others.

I haven't posted a lot of them yet, mainly because I'm still working on them. But I thought that I would take a small break from Melt and try finishing this chapter. Anyways. Read it and let me know what you think while I try to think up what to write next.

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Winter was lost. Hopelessly, irreverently, lost. Which was odd considering that she could usually find her way from point A to point B easily enough. After all it was one of the most basic of survivor skills. When you are lost and haven't got a compass, use the position of the sun.

The only real problem that Winter was having with that little bit of advice was that the trees were so tall that they totally blocked out the sun. So that was more or less a bust. Which left her with nothing more to do than wondering around.

Which in itself was a bad idea since the more she moved the more turned around she seemed to get until finally she was so lost that she started doing what she always did when she was about to freak out.

She started out talking to herself. Well, okay not talking to herself exactly. It was more like quoting every child hood story book fairy tail or movie line that she could think of, which amounted to close to nine hundred and fifty seven different lines and quotes.

Not bad for someone only nineteen years old.

Not bad at all. But it still didn't fix her problem.

It only served to distract her a little bit. Which begged the question, how was she going to find her way home if she kept getting turned around?

She reached the small river that wound it's way along the border of the land that neighbored the land that she had bought for herself and her sisters and walked over to a tall willow tree that stood on the small bank, it's thick limbs stretching out over the waist deep waters, beckoning for her to come over and sit for a spell. She walked over to the tree and tiredly dropped down to the ground under it and leaned her back against the tree and closed her eyes.

Her feet kind of hurt.

But they didn't hurt as much as her head hurt from all the thinking that she'd been doing. Of course she had had more than enough time to think over a lot of things since she had been out in the woods for _hours_ now. Mid day easily sliding further towards twilight as the sun slowly but surely started to set.

She sat there for an hour, then two. And before she was even aware of it she had more or less given up on finding her way home tonight and had just decided to settle in for the night and wait until morning before she tried to find her way again.

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Shadow Wolf slipped from Swaying Leaf's lodge around the time the sun was setting in the sky, his expression relieved. It would seem that the medicine that he had brought from the trading post had done it's job. Swaying Leaf was breathing much easier now, and his coloring was a little better too.

The two men had spoken for a while before Swaying Leaf had gotten tired and fallen asleep and since it was getting late Shadow Wolf thought it might be for the best if he left so that the elder could rest more peacefully.

He walked through the village to his lodge and pulled the deer skin hanging over the opening back and peeked inside to see if his cousin, Moon flower, the princess of their people, was there. Upon seeing that she wasn't there he dropped the deer skin back into place and turned and straitened his spine as he walked off to go hunting for her.

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Moon Flower was gathering wild flowers along the outskirts of the village when she realised that the sky was turning dark and sighed as she put the flowers in her hand into the small woven basket at her feet and then picked it up and started back to the village knowing that her older cousin Shadow Wolf would be worried about her if she didn't show up soon for the evening meal.

She made her way through the bushes, absent mindedly weaving her way in and out of thorns and small trees and bushes until she reached the river a little ways from the village where she stopped and blinked as she spotted a slight figure half laying, half leaning against a tall willow tree.

_Why is there an u-dv-so-nv-hi, elder man resting under the willow?_ Moon Flower wondered as she took several steps closer to the water and stopped as she managed to make out the snowy white hair and the strange clothes.

Alarm slammed into her system as she noticed that the person under the willow tree was wearing a gun belt and appeared to be one of the white men settlers that had so many of her tribe brothers up in arms. And then the frightening thought that maybe this white haired person was one of the rogues and outlaws that had been killing her fellow Cherokee and the white settlers crossed her mind and she almost dropped her basket and reached for the knife that she had hidden under her fringed deer skin skirt when she felt a hand come down on her shoulder and screamed in fear and dropped her basket before turning around to look at her cousin Shadow Wolf who was frowning at her with a puzzled expression on his face.

Winter was startled awake by a woman's scream at the same time her body slipped completely side ways and she toppled over and lay on her back on the ground with a startled look on her face and her feet in the air as she blinked her sleep glazed eyes and muttered, "What the fuck?" Under her breath before quickly dropping her legs out of the air and dragging her self across the ground on her stomach until she was hidden behind the willow tree and peeked out, her senses on high alert and ready for trouble.


	6. Chapter 6

"_Suh-no-dah -ji-la._ Moon flower, what are you doing?" Shadow Wolf asked as he studied his young cousin. She looked frightened for some reason, but he couldn't see anyone or anything to have frightened her. So why had she screamed?

Moon flower looked at him with a stricken look on her pretty face. "_Ooh-dee-yuh-lee-wah-yaw_, Shadow Wolf! I saw a white eyes! Surely he is one of the rogue's and outlaws that has been killing so many people!" Moon flower cried as she pointed to the willow tree across the pristine waters of the small river.

Shadow Wolf pushed her behind him and scanned the bank across from where he stood and narrowed his eyes when he thought he saw someone peek at him and Moon flower from around the back of the tree. He made a low feral sounding growl in the back of his throat and snapped.

"_Hay-gah-gah-sew-he_. Go back. I'll go in for a closer look and deal with what I find." Shadow Wolf said as he pulled a sharp hunting knife made of sharpened flint and waited until Moon flower had started back to the village before he made any move to wade across the river making sure to go as slowly and cautiously as possible so that he didn't make much noise.

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Weasel watched his former village from the far side of the woods.

He had been exiled by Chief Swaying Leaf when he had been little more than a young brave for getting caught with fire water and attacking a white settlers daughter. He had been told that he was going to ruin himself and the old Chief had severed the only bonds of family and belonging that Weasel had ever felt and sent the young brave away from the village in disgrace.

Weasel had heard that the old Chief was dying and had come to settle the grudge he had with the elder.

First he would kill the old Chief. Then he would grab one of the village women to serve as his bed mate for a little while. Then he would burn the village to the ground and ride off with his grudge satisfied and his need for a warm female body satisfied as well.

He moved back away from the trees surrounding the village and looked towards his lackeys. The rogues and outlaws of both the red man and the white man. He had managed to find himself as a part of their group little over three months ago, and while it wasn't really in his nature to kill wantonly, he enjoyed bleeding someone dry just the same.

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Winter could feel the subtle change in the air. It was so thick that she could practically taste it on her tongue.

She looked up at the sky as the hair on the back of her neck stood on end as she caught sight of an owl circling in the sky above her head. _Sss-gee-nah._ Bad spirits were at work tonight. She could feel it in the sudden coldness in the summer air, as if all the warmth was being sucked out of the air by some monsterous unseen force.

She was so absorbed in her own thoughts that she never noticed Shadow Wolf closing in on her, nor did she notice him coming around the side of the willow tree and freezing as he looked her over in shock.

_Ooh-nay-kwa!_ Great Spirit in the sky! Moon flower had been half right.

The person hiding behind the willow tree was a white eyes...or at least that was how it looked from a distance. But now that he got a closer look of the slender figure with the snowy white hair, he knew that the person he was staring at wasn't completely white. In fact he could safely assume that the person that he was staring at was a half breed. The hair more or less gave the person away along with the slightly dark color of the skin.

He shook off the dazed feeling that had crept up on him and slowly reached out and slipped his flint knife up under the person's chin causing the slender body to jerk almost violently back away from the blade as the head turned and Shadow Wolf found himself staring into the most piercing eyes that he had ever seen set in the most exotically beautiful face. His mouth went dry and his heart skipped a beat in his chest as his eyes did a slow once over, absent mindedly noting that this was not a male that he was holding a knife too.

But a very young, very hauntingly beautiful woman.

"_Ga-do-de_-_tsa-do_, what is your name?" Shadow Wolf asked before he even realised that he had spoken. The woman bit her lower lip and remained silent and Shadow Wolf couldn't help the feeling of disappointment that welled up when she didn't answer him.

He was about to ask again when the sound of gun shots and screams shattered the silence of the night and he jerked his head to the side just in time to see flames erupt as several different lodges started going up in flames. _"What will you do now Chief?"_ The woman asked in a familiar voice that he didn't have any time to think about.

His people were in danger and he had to go and drive back the enemy before he could deal with the woman.


	7. Chapter 7

_"What will you do now Chief?"_ The woman asked in a familiar, slightly mocking tone before he turn his head to look at her again. Blinking when he saw her standing now and wondering when she had managed to move his knife away enough to even get to her feet.

He might have asked if he hadn't already started running down the bank so that he could wade through water and get back to the village. His need to save as many of his people as he could, driving almost all rational thought from his mind. Leaving nothing but a murderous rage towards the ones attacking his brothers and sisters.

Winter watched the fires blaze in the village and started to turn and walk off when she heard the screams of women and children and simply stopped. _Dammit_ of all the times to develop a heart, this was not the time she would have chosen.

She looked back at the village and gnashed her teeth in anger and frustration, her fingers twitching at her sides. She wanted to help them. Really she did. But she had to weigh her choices carefully because getting involved in a fight that was meant only to kill a few; could cost the tribe under attack _everything_. It would also bring trouble to her sisters door.

And no matter what else may happen, she couldn't risk her family. Yet turning her back on people in trouble simply wasn't in her. It was considered dishonorable, even cowardly to turn your back on someone in need.

She closed her eyes for a second and when she opened them again she was already knee deep in the river, her eyes trained blankly ahead on the flames.

If she did this, she couldn't ever go _home_ again.

But if she didn't do this-

She'd never be able to live with herself for standing by and watching _innocent_ people die.

She reached down and pulled her guns from her belt and held them over her head as the cold water suddenly got deeper, her mind barely registering the shock of the cold as she moved.

Shadow Wolf reached the other side and took off running up the bank towards the village as some of the braves came running out of their lodges with their bow and arrows and their spears and tomahawks while others tried to help the women and elders and children to the safety of the woods.

Shadow Wolf could see his friend Red Feather standing beside a burning lodge, his face contorted in anger and hatred as he pulled an arrow from his quiver and quickly pulled it back on his bow and sent it flying right into the heart of a white man at the same time the man raised his gun and shot Red Feather.

Blood ran down Red Feather's chest and he looked down at his chest with a pained expression, but he refused to fall and quickly notched another arrow and used it to wound another man who was trying to drag a young woman away from her wounded younger brother by the hair.

Shadow Wolf started to go to him when he heard the sound of a horse coming up behind him and turned just in time to see an young brave with war beads in his hair and a gleeful look on his face and managed to dodge what would have been a lethal blow to the back of his head by an elk bone ax and snatched the rogue off of his horse by grabbing a hand full of his hair and jerking the man back so hard that his neck snapped back on his spine and he fell at Shadow Wolf's feet, pale and still despite the fact that he still breathed.

He was alive for the moment, but he wouldn't be for long. Shadow Wolf made sure of it when he lifted his foot and brought it down on the braves neck. Snapping it before he took off again to help.

Winter stood on the bank of the river studying the scene before her. It was horrible. There were wounded and dying people everywhere of all sizes, ages and genders. And there was very little that she could do for them except take out the ones who had hurt them. But first she needed a plan.

Because she recognised that this attack wasn't just some random thing. There had been planning behind it, she could see it in the way the 'bad' guys were attacking. They were wounding and killing the able bodied men, leaving the elderly, the ill, and the women and children defenseless.

She heard someone running up behind her and glanced over her shoulder and saw one-

No two men with greasy long hair and beards running towards her with knives in their hands and without so much as a second though pulled one of her guns and shot one of them in the knee, then again in the hand holding the knife then shifted her body a little bit and side stepped the attack from the other guy as he lunged at her and used the but of her gun to hit the second guy in the back of the head before shooting him in the lower back, directly over the spine then stepped over him and ran for one of the burning lodges.

She could hear someone calling out from inside and knew that if something wasn't done then the person inside would likely die tonight.

Shadow Wolf stood in front of Red Feather noting how pale he was as his legs finally gave out and he fell to the ground, and grabbed his friend's bow and arrow and quickly scanned the people running in front of him, counting how many Indian's there were riding with the white men and started picking them off despite his worry over the wounded, his cousin Moon Flower, and the need to reach the elder Swaying Leaf who was no doubt still in his lodge which was now on fire.

He could hear the screaming of his people, syncing up to the beating of his heart, over the rushing of blood in his ears as he felled three men and notched his weapon to kill another when something caught his attention out of the corner of his eye.

Something white like snow.

He turned his head and stared wide eyed at the young woman from earlier as she ran to Swaying Leaf's lodge and threw herself through the burning opening. His heart stopped for a moment as he tried to think of what she could be doing in there when a moment or so later someone came staggering out of the smoke filled lodge carrying a shield over their head and collapsed a few feet from the lodge coughing.

Shadow Wolf's eyes widened a little more as realization hit him.

Moon Flower sat on her hands and knees coughing, her long dark hair falling over her shoulders. Some of it singed from where the flames had gotten too close, her dress and skin were stained with soot.


	8. Chapter 8

Swaying Leaf lay on his fur pallet, completely unaware of the trouble outside of his lodge. Moon Flower had run into his lodge earlier to try and wake him so that she could get him to safety, but no matter how much she shook him and cried for him to open his eyes, he kept on sleeping.

And after several attempts to wake him; she began to fear that he was already dear and was in the middle of laying her head on his chest to listen for his heart when she heard someone make a whooping sound just outside of the lodge a moment before the front of the lodge was set ablaze. She looked at the flames in wide eyed horror and gripped the elders pallet in her hands and dragged him towards the back of the lodge while the flames licked at the sides and the furs laying on the dirt floor.

"Shadow Wolf! _Ah-lee-sss-day-luh-dee_, help!" Moon Flower screamed as thick black smoke started to fill the lodge, making it hard to breathe.

"Shadow Wolf! Help us!" She cried again as her lungs and eyes started to burn. Why wasn't her cousin coming to help them? Had he forgotten about them? Did he think that they were somewhere safe already? Had he been wounded? Killed?

Tears started slipping down her face as she leaned over the elder and buried her face against the soft rabbit furs covering his body and silently prayed for the great spirit to send them help. She was afraid of dying here.

She was afraid of dying in the flames.

She heard a strange 'Fwoom' sound followed by a dull thud and a muffled yelp and jerked her head up, hope swelling in her chest. Shadow Wolf! Surely it was him. Surely he had come to save them from the flames!

She searched the dark smoke with her pale eyes and started to open her mouth to call out when someone stood up and she saw snowy white hair and her eyes widened in shock. _Ooh-duh-sew-nuh-he._ It was the elder man that she had seen sleeping under the willow tree!

The elder moved over to her and grabbed a shield that had been propped against one of Swaying Leaf's wall and thrust it into Moon Flower's arms. Moon Flower blinked and looked down at the shield and frowned for a second, her mind abuzz with questions.

What was the elder doing here? Why was he giving her the shield?

_"I want you to use that to cover your head and walk out the door._" The elder said in her language. Moon Flower blinked and started to shake her head, fear filling her mind when the elder grabbed her by the shoulders and hissed.

_"Pick up that shield and hold it over your head and get the hell out of here! It will protect you from the falling debree and help you force your way out without getting burned!" _Winter hissed at the frightened girl. She needed to get her out of the lodge so that she could go to work knocking a hole in the back so that she could carry the elder to safety but she couldn't do it if she had to worry about the girl.

She knew the weapons of her brothers better than her late paw-paw. She knew the weaknesses, the strengths, and durability of them and knew that the shield would protect the girl from serious harm, it wouldn't protect her from the heat of the flames but it would protect her from everything else.

The girl looked like she wanted to argue with her but instead nodded her head and stood up and held the shield over her head and looked at Winter. _"What about the elder?"_ The girl asked before coughing a bit.

_"Leave him to me. He'll be fine. I promise."_ Winter said. The girl stared at her for a second then nodded her head and slowly made her way over to the door, and several minutes later she was safe and sound outside.

Leaving Winter alone with the grim task of knocking down a wall and dragging an unconscious old man to safety.

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Shadow Wolf dropped his weapon and pulled out his knife as a white man came riding towards him, and blinked in surprise as a loud shrill whistle was heard. The man pulled his horse to a slow trot for a second then turned it around and quickly yelled something to what few men remained before riding off towards the trees.

Away from the village.

As soon as they were out of sight Shadow Wolf took a shuddering breath and looked around the deserted village before dropping the bow and running over to Moon Flower who was staring at Swaying Leaf's lodge with a desolate look on her face as she cried.

"Shadow Wolf..."

"Moon Flower! Are you alright? Where is Swaying Leaf?" Shadow Wolf asked as he dropped down to the ground next to her and grabbed her shoulders and quickly checked her over for any wounds before hugging her to his chest.

Moon Flower sobbed and tried to tell him that she didn't think that Swaying Leaf had made it when the faint sound of coughing and swearing made her and her cousin pull apart and look to their left just in time to see the snow haired woman/elder come staggering from around the side of Swaying Leaf's lodge, half carrying, half dragging the elder before collapsing to the ground and trying to catch his/her breath.

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A quick note-

Moon Flower still thinks that Winter is an elderly man which is the only explanation that I have for the' his/her' thingy above.


	9. Chapter 9

She couldn't breathe!

Her lungs were simply having trouble functioning due to all of the smoke that she had inhaled. Her throat and lungs both felt painfully raw and she couldn't seem to catch her breath no matter how many gasps of air she took.

_It figured-_ Winter mused as her wold started to dim a little bit. _It was the first time she actually helped someone; up close. And now that she had done her good deed..._ She was dying.

She might have_ tried_ laughing if she was so busy suffocating.

Shadow Wolf ran over to her and looked over the elder before turning his mis matched eyes to her and placing his hands on her slender shoulders and looking her over for any wounds that she may have suffered as some of his less wounded braves came to see what was going on.

Finally after several minutes Winter was able to catch her breath and managed to rasp as she blinked her burning eyes and looked around until she found the elder. "_Ooh-dah-tloo-new-jee?_ Elder brother, is he okay?"

"_Ah-say-hi_. Yes, he is well." Shadow Wolf said with a frown as he rubbed his hand along her back in a soothing motion before turning his head slightly and ordering a number of able bodied men to gather the badly wounded and the dead together so that they could be tended too while sending a small number of people to go and find their brothers and sisters hiding in the woods and bring them back to the village.

Winter nodded her head slowly and looked around and cringed at the number of wounded and dead littering the ground around them. "Oh god-" She said in a breathless tone as her heart clenched painfully in her chest.

There were eight dead and at least a dozen more wounded.

This hadn't been supposed to happen. At least not for a few years by her estimate. And she couldn't help but wonder if what had happened here tonight was in some way her fault.

Shadow Wolf wasn't sure what to think of the woman. Nor was he sure what to do with her.

She had helped his cousin. Had saved the life of Swaying Leaf. And had fought along side his people at great risk to herself. He didn't understand why she had done it. And while he was puzzled about her actions, he was also very grateful to her for helping.

"_Wah-doe, Uh-jee Gee-tloo._ Thank you, snow hair."

Winter looked at him and nodded her head again. "_Anytime Chief_." She said soberly as she put her hands on her knees and started to get up. Shadow Wolf reacted to her need to stand up by getting to his feet and grasping one of her arms, around the elbow and helping her up.

"Do you know anything about those men?" Shadow Wolf asked, wondering if she knew any of the ones that had attacked his people. Because if she did, then it meant that she was somehow involved with the men who had hurt and killed his people.

The woman gave him a peculiar look. As if having him ask her if she was somehow involved in the senseless deaths of his people hurt her in some way. "_No._" She said coldly as she gently pulled her arm from his grasp and taking several steps back away from him.

Winter had risked her life to help and Shadow Wolf had just more or less asked her if she was partially responsible for the attack on his people. Under normal circumstances she might have laughed, but for some reason his question hurt her.

"Ah. I see." Shadow Wolf said gently as Moon Flower walked over and stared at the woman wide eyed.

"You're a _ooh-nah-jee ah-gee-yaw_, snow woman!" The girl said in surprise as she pointed at Winter. Winter blinked at her but said nothing for a second.

"I never said that I wasn't a woman. One would think that my delicate build, and the sound of my voice alone would give me away. But I guess you probably couldn't see much of either one in the smoke, huh?" Winter said in wary amusement. Moon Flower's eyes got impossibly wider as a faint blush crept up her neck to her cheeks. Shadow Wolf watched the small exchange between his cousin and the snow haired woman curiously before the woman started walking away.

"Wait! Where are you going? _Gah-doe-day?_ What is your name?" Shadow Wolf demanded as he started walking after her. For some reason that he couldn't explain he felt drawn to the woman and didn't want to let her out of his sight.

The woman didn't really tell him anything. She just turned her head and looked at him over her shoulder before snapping at him in an angry tone. "My name is none of your business. And for your information _Chief_...I'm heading home."

Shadow Wolf blinked at her tone then frowned. Why did she sound so angry? Was she upset about the attack on the village? Because they would be fine. They would rebuild and care for the wounded and bury the dying.

It would take time.

But they would be fine.

"_Hah-he-hay-la?_ Where do you live? I will take you home." Shadow Wolf said without thinking and mentally kicked himself. It would be considered unseemly for him to escourt a woman from the village when his people needed him. And while he knew that he couldn't leave the village until everyone and everything was taken care of, he was hoping that the woman would stay so that he could get to know her better before he took her home.

He was hoping that she knew little to nothing about his people's way of life so that he would have time.

Unfortunately for him the she kept walking as she turned her head again and hissed at him in a furious tone that stopped him from following her further. "You can't take me home! Your the Chief for gods sake! Your people _need_ you and you wouldn't be able to take me any where for _weeks_. Go! Attend to your people. Care for your wounded and bury your dead."

Shadow Wolf wasn't sure how to react to the woman's words. It was obvious from the way that she spoke that she knew how about his tribe's customs among other things. Which led him to believe that she must be someone of great importance to her own people.

Perhaps a princess of a neighboring tribe that had good relations with the white people and had no problem with half breed children. Perhaps she was a Chieftain's wife, or sister. Or maybe she was a medicine woman or a shaman of her tribe?

Or maybe she was just some nomad woman that walked the line between the white man's world and his own.

Whoever she was, he couldn't let her leave the village. Not after his people had been attacked.

The outlaws and rogues were still out there somewhere. Hidden just beyond the trees, possibly waiting for some hapless victim to wander into their camp. And the Ooh-nay-kwa, Great Spirit only knew what might happen if the evil ones got their hands on her.

Her fate would be one of agony and misery until they killed her!

"_Hah-lay_! Stop! You cannot _hah-knee-gee_, go!" Shadow Wolf shouted from twenty feet away as she started to wade into the river.

Winter ignored him as she moved further and further away from him. She knew what he must be thinking right now, but he needn't concern himself with her. She could take care of herself and right now she was determined to get as far away from him as she could.

"_Ah-say-he_, yes I can!"

"I will _new-la-oh-knee_, come after you." Shadow Wolf said threateningly. His mind dead set on keeping her in the village for her own safety.

He could easily track her. He could easily capture her and drag her back to the village. It wouldn't take much effort. After all even if she did know much about his people and their customs. She was still a woman, and while she was intelligent, he doubted that she knew how to cover her tracks and disappear.

Winter's blood chilled at the softly spoken threat in Shadow Wolf's words. Yet that didn't stop her from climbing out of the rive and onto the bank on the other side and looking back at him and growling.

"You would be a _ah-gah-la-yuh-wee_, foolish person to come after me!" Before she turned and ran up the small bank and disappeared into the trees as Shadow Wolf turned around and headed back to the village to get his horse.

After all, he would catch her much faster on his mount than on his feet.

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Okay, here is this chapter...

And I don't know about the rest of you, but I just got the impression that Shadow Wolf just more or less dug his own grave.


	10. Chapter 10

_"I will new-la-oh-knee, come after you." Shadow Wolf said threateningly. His mind dead set on keeping her in the village for her own safety._

_He could easily track her. He could easily capture her and drag her back to the village. It wouldn't take much effort. After all even if she did know much about his people and their customs. She was still a woman, and while she was intelligent, he doubted that she knew how to cover her tracks and disappear._

_Winter's blood chilled at the softly spoken threat in Shadow Wolf's words. Yet that didn't stop her from climbing out of the rive and onto the bank on the other side and looking back at him and growling._

_"You would be a ah-gah-la-yuh-wee, foolish person to come after me!" Before she turned and ran up the small bank and disappeared into the trees as Shadow Wolf turned around and headed back to the village to get his horse._

_After all, he would catch her much faster on his mount than on his feet._

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Winter wasn't a fool. Never had been. Never would be.

Yet she couldn't help herself when Shadow Wolf had threatened to come after her.

She knew that she had been baited by his words, and the softly voiced threat in them but that hadn't stopped her from telling him off or running into the woods. She knew what his next move would be to get his horse and chase her down.

And she intended to make it as hard for him as possible.

She didn't care if it was stupid of her. Or if he would perceive her actions as some sort of a challenge and chase her to the very ends of the earth.

She was going to show that foolish man that he was an idiot to think that he could find and catch her easily. She had an entire wooded area to run wild in. A wealth of herbal plants that could be turned into poison and other dangerous weapons.

There were animals aplenty to serve as distractions.

And plenty of places to hide and wait him out. After all, he had to return to the village at _some_ point. It would be irresponsible of him not too when his people had suffered such a painful blow. She ran about half a mile before she stopped and with a devious smile and started using the tracks that she had made before to back track to a certain tree that she decided was as good a place as any to hide for a few minutes and quickly climbed it and settled herself on a thick branch surrounded by leafy foliage on both sides of it and sat there waiting for Shadow Wolf to come around.

Shadow Wolf was watching the ground, the trees and bushes and looking for signs of the snow haired woman heading any one way and was puzzled to find no traces of her except the foot prints that she had left in the dirt. There were no broken limbs or sticks or twigs to give him a clue about where she might have gone. No scared or frightened animals to give her away.

No scents. No sounds.

Not even a trace of blood or a piece of clothing could be found. _Gah-go gay-say-ee he-yaw ah-gee-yaw?_ Who was this woman that she could simply vanish into thin air? He pulled his horse to a stop under a tall pine tree and stared at the tracks for a few moments before getting down and walking the last thirty feet or so where her tracks simply stopped and she seemed to disappear.

It was as troubling as it was vexing that he couldn't pick up the snow haired woman's trail. He looked up at the sky and saw the pale moon peeking form between some branches and knew that he couldn't stay and look much longer.

His people needed him too much for him to sacrifice the time and effort for much longer. He closed his eyes and said a silent prayer to the Great Spirit. _Please let her be safe._ Before turning his horse around and calling out to the creatures of the woods.

_"Ooh-nah-jee ah-gee-yaw ah-yaw wee-lee find nay-he!"_

_Snow woman, I will find you! _He thought as he pressed the heels of his feet into his horses sides and rode off planning to search the woods and settlements around the area to find the woman so that he could repay his debt to her for helping his people.

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_OH MY GOD!_

You would not believe the day I've had today kittens.

I went to see my mammaw Kay today, and she doesn't know me anymore.

And I was almost _literally_ kidnapped.

I was walking out of my grandmother's room at the nursing home and the next thing I know some little ol lady comes running up and grabs my hand and starts dragging me off. I don't think I've ever been so nervous before in my life!


	11. Chapter 11

Weeks passed since the night of the attack and before Shadow Wolf knew it; it had been a month and finally his people no longer needed him to stay with in the village. Their wounded and dead had been taken care of and mourned. The village elder, Swaying Leaf had finally shown signs of his health improving and had regained enough of his strength to once again move around on his own and sit around the lodge fire and visit.

And Shadow Wolf...

He was finally free to go riding around the local white eyes home steads in an effort to find the snow woman that had appeared and disappeared so abruptly in his life.

_Snow woman, I will find you._ Shadow Wolf thought as he swung himself up on his horse early that morning shortly after rising from his bed, and dug his heels into the horses sides to spurred it into motion.

Today was the day that he would search for her in the white eyes territory.

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Winter lay on the river bank with her feet dangling into the cool waters, her arms neatly folded behind her head, her eyes closed; soaking up the midday afternoon sun and trying to relax. It had been a rough month for her.

Starting with the incident in Shadow Wolfe's village, and ending in a gun fight with a rogue several days ago. And in that time Winter had been _stabbed_ once, _shot_ twice (both had been flesh wounds, thank god) _bitten_ by a poisonous snake, and _knocked_ around and set on _fire_.

Okay, maybe she was down playing things a little bit, but she couldn't help it. She had come incredibly close to dying at least_ three_ of those times (she got some nifty scars out of those incidents) and was trying to cope the only way she knew how. By shrugging things off and pretending that she had never been in any danger to begin with.

And that might have kept working. If Amy wasn't so dead set on her quitting her job as a gunslinger and settling down before she got herself killed.

Something that Winter had absolutely no interest in.

Honestly she couldn't ever see herself as a wife or mother. There simply wasn't a sweet and motherly/wifely bone in her body. She was simply too jaded and mean spirited to be anything but herself. Still, she could understand Amy's point of view.

She was still fairly young and would live _longer_ (or so Amy said) if she quit her job and settled down, but Winter didn't like the idea of stopping because there was so many dangerous people around. She would be leaving herself and her sisters open to attack.

Then there was the idea of being under a man's control. She didn't like that very much either considering that there was no decent men with in a fifty mile radius of where she lived aside from Shadow Wolf-

Her eyes opened as an image of Shadow Wolf popped into her head and her heart did a peculiar flip flop in her chest. She could still recall how angry he had looked when he had warned her that he would come after her that night by the river. His mis matched eyes had tracked her every move, making her feel like a rabbit being hunted by a wily and cunning wolf.

He might have caught her that night too if she hadn't have back tracked and climbed that tree and watched him until he had left. No. That wasn't right, Winter knew that he _would_ have caught her if she had kept going on foot instead of hiding herself. She wasn't so stupid as to think that he wouldn't have gotten her.

He had had too much of a home turf advantage. Knew too much about the surrounding areas while she had gotten lost in her own frigging back yard. It was pitiful really when she thought about it. And even now she had the strangest feeling that she would be seeing the Chief again sooner than she expected.

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I haven't updated this in a while and thought that I'd write what I could, but nothing is clicking like it used too.

I've been off my game since the site went down two weeks ago.

Anyways, I'll work on some stuff and hopefully have a new update soon.

Enjoy.


	12. Chapter 12

Shadow Wolf had spent almost all day searching for the snow woman, and now only had one place left to look. He leaned forward on his horse a little bit and scanned the area before him noting the subtle differences in the lay out of the land that the settlers had claimed as their own.

The cabin style dwelling and the barn were what stood out the most.

The sheer amount of detail and craft man ship that had gone into them was _amazing_.

And so much more refined than the other home steads. They were so well built. He knew this because he had studied them up close a little while ago before making his way to the ridge over looking them.

The front door to the house opened and two women walked out. He squinted a little bit against the sun and noted in surprise that the two women looked vaguely familiar. One woman went over to a tree and sat down on a wooden plank hanging by a thick rope while the other woman went over to the small garden located off to the side of the house and started pulling things out of the ground.

Vegetables no doubt.

He watched them for what felt like forever and was silently debating on going down and attempting to talk to them, despite the fact that most white eyes were very stand offish and uncooperative and often attacked him if he tried to speak with them. But for some odd reason he felt that being attacked wouldn't be an issue with these settlers.

He didn't really understand the feeling, he just knew instinctively that these people wouldn't harm him.

He was about to ride down and speak with them when someone came walking out of the woods. His mis matched eyes automatically went to the new comer as a triumphant smile curved his lips as he caught sight of the long white hair hanging over slender shoulders framing an angelically beautiful face.

_Ooh-nah-jee- Ah-gee-yaw_, snow woman.

He'd finally found her!

Excitement pulsed through his blood as he watched her walk up to the other two women and lift a hand to wave at them while calling out something before walking up to the cabin and slipping inside.

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Winter had had a good long nap on the river bank before waking up and deciding to make her way home. Tonight was her night to cook dinner. Something that she wasn't entirely looking forward too since Amy and Robin had hidden her hunting knife and forbade her from hunting any innocent deer, rabbits, and other 'cute' little critters that would have made a wonderful main dish for their diner.

Frankly she thought that they were both insane. She'd would have loved to have some deer or rabbit meat, but instead would settle for some wild quail. She made her way up the narrow steps to the second floor of the house and walked to her room and stepped inside and picked up the hand carved bow that she had made for herself a while back. And then grabbed the small deer skin quiver of arrows that she had fashioned for herself and slipped it over her head and then turned and silently made her way back outside.

She had a maybe three or four hours left before the sun went down. She figured that she might be able to bag herself several wild quail and make her way back to the house to cook them or her sisters would be eating beets and carrots for dinner tonight. "Make sure that your back before night fall of I'll burn the woods down around you!" Amy called cheerfully from around the house.

Winter paused in mid step and glanced in the direction of the garden. She couldn't see anything. And she was sure that Amy couldn't see her, so how her sister managed to know when she was stepping into the house and stepping out of the house, she had no idea.

It was something that had her stumped, and though she would like to figure out how Amy did shit like that; she knew that even if she knew how to do stuff like that herself she'd just use the knowledge for evil anyways.

"Uh...okay." Winter called back as she scratched her cheek and shook her head a little bit as she started walking again. She couldn't stand around wasting day light forever.


	13. Chapter 13

Shadow Wolf stepped carefully through the thicket and into the field before him. He'd been following the snow woman through the woods for a little while now, following the small trail that she created when she walked . He found it just a little bit amusing that she left such obvious trails when she didn't know that she was being followed.

The tall grass easily hid a lot of things, but it couldn't hide the snow woman. He could see the very top of her head partially hidden by the tall swaying grass as the wind blew softly.

He slowly and carefully made his way towards the snow woman's hiding place, staying as quiet as he could so that he could observe her and what she was doing here. She had a bow and a quiver of arrows on her, so he assumed that she was here to hunt. And since he didn't want to startle her or alert her to his presence, he settled himself in the tall grass ten feet or so from her. Just back a little ways, and off to the side.

His mis matched eyes peeking out through the grass as he watched her settle into a comfortable position without making any noise and notch her bow with an arrow and made a loud wolf like growling sound. The effect was almost instant.

Shadow Wolf saw several wild quail come out of their hiding places and take flight. Seeking to escape from potential danger.

The snow woman shot down one. Then notched another arrow and shot down another then stood up. It was a little shocking to Shadow Wolf just how much of an apt hunter and killer she was. She was quite the_ intelligent_ woman.

She knew her prey, how to speak or call or lull it into the open. Her kills were clean. Merciful even. She had aimed for the organs that would kill her prey automatically and without pain.

It was an interesting thing to see from a white eyes. After all didn't they raise their daughters to be sheltered, and weak? To be beautiful, yet have limited use aside from marriage and children? Shadow Wolf wondered what sort of father the snow woman had had. How her father had raised her must have differed _greatly_ from what he knew of most white eyes, or she wouldn't be out in the woods alone, hunting among potentially dangerous, and lethal animals.

Did she have such confidence in her ability with a bow and arrow that she really thought she would be a match for a wild boar? A panther? A wolf?

She picked up the two quail that she had killed and then took the time to look around the area where the two dead birds had come out. What was she doing now? He wondered as the sound of several chirps drew his attention as the snow woman knelt down and pushed some of the grass back and then reached down and picked up a little grass nest with three little quail chicks in it.

She spoke in a low almost crooning tone to the chicks, trying to sooth them as she picked up her things and with the nest and three crying chicks in hand slowly made her way back through the field towards the trees. Shadow Wolf waited until she reached the tree line before he stood up and silently followed her back to the house.

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Winter felt badly for the three little crying chicks since they must be new born's. She hadn't meant to kill their mother. In fact she tried to steer clear of any animal that looked as if it might either be expecting young, or currently taking care of young.

But from time to time she slipped up and accidentally killed one that she probably shouldn't have. Which was why she had developed the habit of checking for offspring from any animal that she downed.

If the young was old enough to live on their own without much difficulty then she left them in the woods to run wild and free. But if the young couldn't live on their own, like the chicks in her hand, then she took them home with her and took the time and effort to raise them until they could survive on their own. Figuring that it was the least that she could do since she had killed the helpless little ones mother.

And it was a much kinder fate that leaving them to die of starvation, or exposure, or to be picked off by predators. At least with her they would be safe, warm and have _three_ very loving mothers to smother them in affection.

By the time Winter and her sisters were done with these little babies. They'd be spoiled rotten.

The chicks chirped at her in high pitched panicky tones and she made a soft cooing sound, mimicking the sound that she had heard a mother quail make to it's young when she had been studying the birds to see how they interacted with each other several months earlier. The chicks quieted down for a second and she made the sound again. Earning some funny, What the fuck, looks from the baby birds before they chirped at her.

The sound curious. Winter answered in an equally curious cooing tone and smiled when the chicks all sort of crawled over each other to get to the edge of the nest and then sat there chirping at her. She made the cooing sound again and the chicks quieted down again and seemed to wear themselves out. They huddled together and made soft chirping sounds to each other as she walked out of the woods and up to the house.

"I'm back!" She called out to Amy and Robin, both of whom were no where to be seen in the yard. So it was safe to assume that they were in the house wondering where she was.

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Shadow Wolf watched the snow woman disappear into the house and wondered if he should try speaking with her, but quickly squashed that idea. If she knew that he was around, she'd try to disappear the next time he came by.

And there _would_ be a next time. Shadow Wolf knew that as surely as he knew the sun would rise tomorrow morning. He had much to speak to the snow woman about. And he and his village had a debt to repay.

He swung himself up on his horses back and looked down at the cabin and let his lips quirk up in a small smile. Now that he knew where she was, he'd be back. Often, to see her.

Starting tomorrow.


	14. Chapter 14

Just a little warning for anyone with a weak stomach. This chapter is all about the villains and some of them are_ sicker_ than others.

This chapter deals with rape, gore and-

Necrophilia.

This chapter is _M_ rated. and more graphic in some places than others.

Again, if you have a weak stomach, _don't read this_.

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Weasel was in the middle of a card came with some of his friends when Mick came walking up and said, "Weasel, the room that that woman we kidnapped is in, has been really quiet since Raven went in. You don't think he went and killed her do you?"

Weasel laid his cards aside and turned his head to look at Mick. "I told him not too." But that didn't necessarily mean that his little brother, Raven, would listen any. Especially since he liked torturing women.

Still, there was a reason why Weasel had ordered his brother not to kill the woman that they had kidnapped. It was because she was the only one that they had left out of the six that they had managed to grab.

Three of them had killed themselves. One before she could be raped by him and his men and two more after they had been raped several times. One of the woman had even managed to wound one of his men with the same knife that she had stolen and later used to end her own life.

One had managed to escape. But she had been killed by a pack of wolves half a mile from their hide out.

And the fifth woman had gotten bitten by a poisonous snake and died before they could have any fun with her. Leaving the pretty young thing that his brother was currently enjoying. Weasel sighed and pushed his chair back and stood up and walked back the narrow little hallway to the bedroom.

He understood why Mick was feeling a little bit anxious about the woman since there were at least twelve men in their gang, and only three of them had managed to have some fun so far. And waiting one's turn so that the women lasted longer, was such a pain in the ass sometimes. Especially when it had been a while since they had last touched a woman.

He stood outside of the door for a moment, listening for anything out of the ordinary. He could still hear the creaking of the bed moving with his brother's thrusts. But the woman wasn't making a sound. Which meant that either his brother had killed her or knocked her out.

But knowing Raven like he did, he doubted that his little brother would do something so merciful as knock the woman that he was raping unconscious. Not when he liked it when they screamed and cried. He swore softly and opened the door and stepped into the room and froze dead in his tracks at the sight before him.

Raven had his arm buried up to his elbow in the stomach of the woman, blood staining the side of his face and his clothes and the bed and floor. Some of the woman's organs had been ripped out and laid on her chest. Her skirt was bunched up around her hips and there was blood staining the inside of her thighs and Raven.

He stopped moving and looked at Weasel, his expression one of pure bliss. He didn't care if his brother saw how sick he was. He didn't care that the woman was dead. He didn't _care_ that he was fucking a corpse. "She's pretty like this. Isn't she brother?" Raven said as he with drew from the dead body and sat back on his heels on the bed and pulled his arm out of the woman's stomach and smeared some of her blood around her blue tinged lips.

Painting them a deep scarlet that would have been lovely on her if she had been _alive_.

_Dammit._ Weasel thought darkly. Another life senselessly laid to waste by his brother. He would have to forbid Raven from ever going near their entertainment again. But first he and his men had to go out and get themselves a new batch of women.


	15. Chapter 15

The early dawn light was just barely breaking the sky when Shadow Wolf reigned his horse to a stop on the ridge over looking the settlement where the Snow woman lived.

Everything below him was still cast in dark shadows, but he could see it all so clearly.

It would seem that the Snow woman was feeling rather restless this morning since he could make out her form, slipping out of the cabin wearing a long sleeved white shirt, a pair of dark pants with a gun belt slung around her slim hips, her feet were bare and she had a dark wide brimmed hat grasped in one hand and a large dark jacket hanging over her other arm.

_What was she doing?_ He wondered curiously as he watched her pull on the hat and jacket and blinked in shock before his lips curled up in a small smile.

So that's how it was.

He'd wondered what had happened to the funny little waif like creature that had helped him get the medicine for Swaying Leaf that time at the trading post and found it rather nice to know that the Snow woman had played a part in helping him save the village elder before the attack on his village.

Now he owed her _three_ life debts that he fully intended to repay.

But first he needed to know what she was up too. He climbed off of his horse and watched her disappear into the woods and cautiously made his way down the ridge just like he had the night before and slipped into the woods.

Again, just like the night before, the snow woman was easy to track when she was unaware.

He followed her past the field of high grass where she had hunted Quail and followed her through the woods to the small river that spawned from the river at the edge of his village. And hid himself in the bushes and stayed quiet while he watched the woman strip off her gun belt then slip her shirt over her head and then slide her pants down over her hips to pool around her feet.

Stripping until she was almost totally naked with the exception of a strange loincloth like thing and a white cloth tied around her chest before wading into the semi shallow waters. He blinked his mismatched eyes and stared at her as she splashed around in the water.

The river water was frigid early in the day and he was fairly sure that if she stayed in the water for more than five or six minutes that he would have to fish her out and build a fire to get her warm again otherwise she might die of hypothermia.

Luckily though she wasn't in the water for long, so he didn't have to reveal himself just yet.

Winter hadn't been able to sleep at all due to the chirping of the baby quails that she had taken home. They had chirped and kicked up a fuss all night long then had decided to run around Winter's room, climbing on her things and flapping their tiny little wings and chirping for their mother because they were hungry or something.

Which after forty five minutes or so had gotten annoying so Winter had done to only thing that she could. She's caught all of the chicks and taken them to Robin's room and set them down on the floor and then run.

By the time she got back the damn chicks would be happily fed and curled up against Robin's side and would be sound asleep. Which in itself would annoy Winter, but at least she wouldn't be contemplating killing the defenseless little birds for crying all night. She finished washing up and climbed out of the river and made her way onto the bank and sat down on the grass and used her fingers to comb the tangles out of her damp hair.

The water had been cold. Far too cold for a descent soak, but at least she felt cleaner than she had a little while ago when she had woken up in her dirty clothes, her hair greasy from lack of washing, her skin grimy from not being scrubbed. But after splashing around in the shallow river waters she felt considerably better.

She sighed and picked up her discarded shirt and slipped it over her head so that she could add an extra layer of clothing so that she wouldn't catch a cold.


	16. Chapter 16

SnowQueen,

I'm not mad. I'm tired because I haven't been sleeping well for a while. But I'll try to update one of the stories you mentioned.

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Dawn couldn't come soon enough for the angry, irritated and horny men who had spent a majority of their night picking up the organs of the woman that Raven had killed.

He'd gotten pissed upon hearing his brother telling him that he was never to go near their prisoners again. After which he had grabbed one handful after another of the woman's insides and proceeded to throw it all over the place.

Weasle had assigned several guys to pick up and clean up the mess but everyone was in such bad spirits that many had refused until Weasel had put a gun to their heads and snarled at them that they wouldn't ever see a woman again if they didn't do as they were told.

So while many of them were doing that Weasel poured over a map of the area, pointing out places where there were settlers and indians and such. They would have to leave their comfort zone to get women this time. Something that irritated Weasel to no end since it meant going ten miles further than what should have been necessary. Which meant that there was a greater chance of them being caught by a rogue indian or a bounty hunter.

Weasel vaguely recalled that one might be living in the area that they were planning to hit. So after grabbing a little sleep the man had taken the time to make sure that his gun was functioning properly just in case and then when the pinkish orange rays of dawn lit up their tiny little world, he stepped outside of his room and called on Mick, Don, Jessy, and Nate.

The four were decent gun fighters and were more likely to follow his orders if he asked them to do something. "Mount up fella's. We're going hunting."

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Winter didn't leave the river for several hours due to the fact that she had laid down on a patch of moss not far from her clothes and took a little cat nap in the sun. Finally waking when she sensed someone was near by, watching her.

She had felt the sensation of eyes trained on her since she had left home this morning, but the feeling was so strong now that it was starting to scare her a little bit.

She sat up and looked around the small clearing, wondering if maybe whatever was watching her was an animal. She couldn't have been more shocked and surprised and maybe a little bit embarrassed to find that the thing watching her was Shadow Wolf whom was sitting well out of arms reach of her, his mismatched eyes on her face.

How long had he been there? She looked down at herself and made a bizarre half squeaking sound as she jumped to her feet, the hem of her shirt falling a little past her waist and started to open her mouth to demand to know what the hell the man was doing creeping up on her but he beat her to it.

"_A-do-nv-do-" _Shadow Wolf said in amusement as he looked up at her. This spirit person was a funny creature to fall asleep in the open in such a vulnerable state. Especially when just anyone or anything could come upon her. "So we meet again." Shadow Wolf said with a grin, happy to know that he would be repaying his debts to the spirit person before him.

She looked a bit uncomfortable in her semi state of undress so he kindly grabbed her pants, gun belt and hat and handed them to her then turned his back to her so that she could pull them on.


	17. Chapter 17

Winter couldn't believe that Shadow Wolf had actually come looking for her at first, but then knowing what she knew about his tribe. As well as what she had done for them and she supposed that it was only_ natrual_ that he would try to track her down.

After all his tribe owed her a debt- well, several debts.

So she should have expected him to hunt for her and eventually find her so that he could repay his debts to her. It was only common sense. Still seeing him again so soon had surprised her. After all it wasn't everyday one went bathing in the river and found a handsome, half naked Indian man sitting there. Although if he had been any other Indian he would have been there for one of two things.

One- her snow colored scalp. And two- Merely checking her out for curiosities sake before he took her scalp.

"You know Shadow Wolf, if you were anyone else you'd have been shot by now." She said as she jerked her pants on up over her bare legs. Shadow Wolf turned his head a little bit, his thick silver hair slipping over his shoulders as he looked at her for a moment.

He wasn't exactly sure how to respond to her words. Part of him wondered if it was a threat. But then after going over what she had just said in his mind, he decided that it wasn't a threat. Not in the way he thought at first.

She was merely trying to tell him to be more careful in her own roundabout way because she wanted him to know that she often carried her guns on her.

"I will be more careful to announce myself to you from now on, Snow woman." He finally said after several moments. He heard the rapid rustling of fabric behind his back and closed his eyes as he felt one of her hands slip through some of the silver hair at his right shoulder as she leaned down and said gruffly.

"Please do." He felt her breath close to his ear and tried to supress the shiver of awareness he felt shoot down his spine as he heard the crunch of grass under her feet and knew that she had moved away from him. He turned to see where she was, not willing to risk having her disappear into the woods again like she had the last time they'd met.

He needn't have worried. She didn't go far from him before she dropped down to the ground with her legs crossed in a fashion similar to how his people sat. "So how long have you been watching me?" Winter asked curiously as she propped her elbow on her knee then propped her chin up in her hand and looked at him. He moved closer to sit across from her and sat the same way she was sitting and flushed as he muttered.

"A while. I have been watching to see if I could learn more about you... To better repay my debt and the debt of my people."

"And what did you learn?" The snow woman asked in a bemused tone, her expression a little bit amused.

"I learned that you hunt as well as any man. You use weapons of both the white yes and my own people. You have knowledge of how to speak Cherokee..." He stopped speaking and frowned then said. "You have said that you are only half Cherokee, yet you know so much about us. Our language, our customs-"

"Traditions, legends of origin. I know the name of your gods, the spirits you pray too."

"How do you know?" Shadow Wolf asked.

"My grandfather was a Cherokee Chieftain. When my father died he took me and my two sisters in and raised us as part of the tribe. However my sisters are more lady like than I and often walk the line between Cherokee and white eyes whereas I myself enjoy delving into the old ways. I speak Cherokee. I hunt. I leave offering to the spirits. I even have a Cherokee name."

Shadow Wolf perked up a little bit and asked her if she would tell him her name. She grinned at him and chuckled softly. "Very well since my lack of cooperation in giving my name bothers you so much. My Cherokee name is Snow Fox. But my white eyes name is Winter."

"Snow Fox... Winter... Hn-" Shadow Wolf hummed thoughtfully before saying. "Both are fine names that suit you well. But I like Snow Fox better." Winter smiled at him. She'd had a feeling that he would like her Cherokee name better than her given name.

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Weasle reigned in his horse and looked over at Jessy who had the map out and was looking it over with a scowl. "Where are we?" Weasle asked. Jessy looked up for a fraction of a second then looked around and hummed before saying.

"About an hour away from the next homestead."

"Which way?" Jessy lifted a hand and pointed to the left without taking his eyes off of the map as Nate whooped excitedly.

"Well what are we waitin fer? Let's go get us some sugar gals!" He said as he dug his spurs into his horse's sides causing the animal to whinny and rear up before in came back down on it's front legs and took off running. Weasle sighed. God Nate was annoying. He might ruin the whole operation.

"Someone shoot Nate and stop him before he gives us away. We can't have him running off and ruining things when we get closer to the homestead."


End file.
